Memphis Music Tour

Memphis is where the Mississippi River meets the Deep South. The city has a rich musical history, full of blues, rockabilly, gospel, and rock and roll. And the landmarks of this history are yours to enjoy. If you like, you can get in the proper mood with a song.

WDIA went on the air in Memphis in 1947. By 1949, it became the first US radio station to be programmed by and for African-Americans. Former deejays include Rufus Thomas and B.B. King, and Carla Thomas and Isaac Hayes performed live on the air. You can see it on Union Avenue.

Beale Street is the home of The Blues in Memphis. Between the statue of W.C. Handy, Father of the Blues on one end and the statue of Elvis on the other end, Beale Street is crammed with music clubs such as B.B. King's original Blues Club, and street musicians busking for tourist dollars.

More Memphis music landmarks, after the jump.

Stax Records and the subsidiary Volt Records produced the sound that became known as Memphis Soul for nationwide consumption. Rufus and Carla Thomas were their earliest stars, followed by Booker T. and the M.G.s (which stands for Memphis Group), Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, and The Staple Singers. The Stax Museum of American Soul Music is located in the Soulsville neighborhood where Stax Records once stood, along with Willie Mitchell's Royal Studios and Aretha Franklin's birthplace. The museum also runs the Stax Music Academy and charter school.

Sun Studio is often referred to as the birthplace of Rock and Roll. Founded in 1950, Sun recorded blues artists such as Howlin' Wolf, but switched gears after Ike Turner's song "Rocket 88" introduced the sound of rock and roll. 18-year-old Elvis Presley made his first recording there in 1953. Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny Cash all recorded with Sun in the 50s.

After Elvis made a name for himself, he bought a mansion in 1957 and named it Graceland. He lived there with his parents and later his wife Pricilla, and died there in 1977. Elvis and his parents are buried at Graceland. Now, 600,000 fans visit the mansion every year! If you don't want to deal with the crowds, you can take a virtual tour online.

But Memphis is much more than music. Wednesday, we'll take a look at the many other world-famous Memphis landmarks.

Australian Charity Releases Album of Cat-Themed Ballads to Promote Feline Welfare

BY Kirstin Fawcett

September 21, 2017

iStock

An Australian animal charity is helping save the nation’s kitties one torch song at a time, releasing a feline-focused musical album that educates pet owners about how to properly care for their cats.

Around 35,000 cats end up in pounds, shelters, and rescue programs every year in the Australian state of New South Wales, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). Microchipping and fixing cats, along with keeping closer tabs on them, could help reduce this number. To get this message out, the RSPCA’s New South Wales chapter created Cat Ballads: Music To Improve The Lives Of Cats.

The five-track recording is campy and fur-filled, with titles like "Desex Me Before I Do Something Crazy" and "Meow Meow." But songs like “I Need You” might tug the heartstrings of ailurophiles with lyrics like “I guess that’s goodbye then/but you’ve done this before/the window's wide open/and so’s the back door/you might think I’m independent/but you’d be wrong.” There's also a special version of the song that's specifically designed for cats’ ears, featuring purring, bird tweets, and other feline-friendly noises.

Together, the tunes remind us how vulnerable our kitties really are, and provide a timely reminder for cat owners to be responsible parents to their furry friends.

“The Cat Ballads campaign coincides with kitten season, which is when our shelters receive a significantly higher number of unwanted kittens as the seasons change,” Dr. Jade Norris, a veterinary scientist with the RSPCA, tells Mental Floss. “Desexing cats is a critical strategy to reduce unwanted kittens.”

Missed your chance to watch ABBA perform live at the peak of their popularity? You’re in luck: Fans will soon be able to see the group in concert in all their chart-topping, 1970s glory—or rather, they’ll be able to see their holograms. As Mashable reports, a virtual version of the Swedish pop band is getting ready to go on tour.

ABBA split up in 1982, and the band hasn't been on tour since. (Though they did get together for a surprise reunion performance in 2016.) All four members of ABBA are still alive, but apparently not up for reentering the concert circuit when they can earn money on a holographic tour from the comfort of their homes.

The musicians of ABBA have already had the necessary measurements taken to bring their digital selves to life. The final holograms will resemble the band in the late 1970s, with their images projected in front of physical performers. Part of the show will be played live, but the main vocals will be lifted from original ABBA records and recordings of their 1977 Australian tour.

ABBA won’t be the first musical act to perform via hologram. Tupac Shakur, Michael Jackson, and Dean Martin have all been revived using the technology, but this may be one of the first times computerized avatars are standing in for big-name performers who are still around. ABBA super-fans will find out if “SOS” still sounds as catchy from the mouths of holograms when the tour launches in 2019.